Museum scientists may travel to exotic places to do fieldwork or they may stay close to home. In these ecology activities your students will research the diversity of animals found in their schoolyard or even a local park. Whichever habitat you decide to study, you can use the same techniques to study your local environment. Urban and suburban habitats support many species of birds, and insects that your students can observe or collect with basic equipment. It’s as easy as birding in the schoolyard for 20 minutes, or collecting spiders around school buildings and then drawing them.

The goal of these activities is to enable students to experience fieldwork firsthand. Studies of living creatures will encourage students to notice and appreciate the wonderful diversity of life around their neighborhood.

The directions for the activities are contained in one PDF document (144 KB). You only need to download this once, or you can read about the activities online.

We have divided the suggested activities into two groups:

Outdoor activities
When deciding what kind of animals to observe or collect, remember that the goal is not to capture and kill, but to document living things. Birds are ideal subjects because they don’t require special equipment, are active during the day and are attracted to lunch areas or gardens. Insects also make good study subjects, allowing students to experience collecting and handling a live animal.
1. Writing in nature journals
2. Using our data sheets
3. How to observe birds in your schoolyard
4. How to collect insects in your schoolyard

Indoor activities
Fieldwork is only half of the process. Upon returning from a trip, museum staff sort, classify and document the living things they have found. These activities can be done with actual specimens that your students have collected, or any collections of things, such as plastic animals or bags of shells from an art store.
1. Scientific illustration
2. Sorting activities
3. Making a dichotomous key